Code Lyoko: RE:XANA
by leadfoot352
Summary: A short time after the success of the multi-agent-program, a dark force is rising in an attempt to destroy our heroes. Will they be able to overcome not only the forces of darkness, but their own personal demons? Read to find out.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Impact

The air was unseasonably cool. It was a chill that cut deep to the bone of those who were out in it. The spring was giving way to summer, but only when the sun shone down upon the world, in the darkness of this moonless night it felt more like winter.

Despite the lack of a moon, it was far from complete darkness. A city is never truly dark, even when its people slumber. Streetlights swayed in the wind, and tress whipped back and forth. There was a constant whistling in the air, which fluxed between a high-pitched wail to a gentle humming at the slightest provocation.

For a lone figure this was all nothing more than a distraction. He walked with a purpose, his coat pulled up tightly against the wind. He cross the green grass of the Kadic Academy's main courtyard with great speed, having walked this path many times he could do so in his sleep. The wind shifted, blowing him a few steps off course. There was a crack of lightning and a clash of thunder, but no raid had begun to fall yet. Rather than slowing the figures advance it spurred him on. The wind shifted again and branch snapped free and fell just in front of the figure. He hesitated for a moment, but then continued his advance past it. He laughed lightly as he continued, it was as if the world around him were trying to stop him, but that was just nonsense. He reached the edge of school grounds and his destination.

A horn, a flash, a squeal, a crash.

* * *

Aelita tossed and turned in her bed. She was sleeping peacefully, and in the depths of a dream. She found a comfortable position hugging a pillow, which happened to be wrapped in one of Jeremie's sweaters in place of a case, and drifted off into a deeper sleep.

In her dream she was floating somewhere warm, perhaps in the ocean, not that she had ever been. She lay, floating in the water not a care in the world. She could dully hear the laughing voices of her friends calling out to her, but she was totally and entirly at peace. She gazed up into the sky and watched as a flight of clouds drifted overhead.

Suddenly the world changed, she was no longer floating, but falling. The air was cold, and wind whipped around her, howling violently. The sky turned dark, and a storm pelted her with icy daggers of rain.

She was on the floor, shaking.

A horn, a flash, a squeal, a crash.

* * *

Ulrich adjusted his position for, by his count, the bazillionth time. He was sore all over. He took in a deep breath and winced as his back spasmed. He glanced at his clock and sighed, 2:19 AM. He was lucky he didn't have class the following day, Sunday's were the best, but he still longed for the sleep that refused to take him.

He changed positions again, accompanied by yet another wince, and closed his eyes, thinking back to eariler today.

He stood leaning over the top of the stairs in the dormitory as Jeremie blathered on in his usual wall of techno-speak. He leaned back over the banister and sighed, rolling his eyes he shot Odd a glance.

Odd was prancing around behind Jeremie, pantomiming his longwinded explanation of the program he was so proud of. Ulrich chuckled and continued nodding to the story.

A commotion behind him stopped Jeremie mid rant as he dove out of the way just in time for some younger kid to come skidding past on his skateboard, totally out of control. Odd pulled the kid from his board just as Ulrich moved to snag it. He grabbed it just before it went over the edge, but the momentum forced him to move onto one foot, leaning just over the edge of the banister. Without warning the world around him seemed to shift and change. His vertigo got the best of him and the next he knew he was waking up in the infirmary. He was fine or course, and they had released him a few hours ago.

He rolled over in bed again and looked down at Odd, who had somehow ended up on the floor. He smiled as Odd snuggled Kiwi closer and went back to snoring loudly. "I wonder what he's dreaming about." Ulrich mused aloud. "Probably food, judging by the smile."

Odd suddenly began frowning and tossing about wildly. Ulrich looked closer, but despite the darkness, he could clearly see tears running down Odds face.

Ulrich grunted as he rolled onto his feet and moved towards Odd. Just as he was about to wake him, Odd shot bolt up, screaming. He dove across the room to his closet tossing his clothes around the room. "Odd, what's going on?" Ulrich asked.

"I've gotta find my phone, I haveta call Jeremie."

"It's 2 in the morning, can't it wait till tomorrow?"

"No, its gotta be now, he needs help." He grabbed his phone from a pair of purple slacks. He dialed Jeremie and shook his head. "No answer, we gotta go get him." He pulled a pair of pants and went for the door but was stopped by a noise outside.

A horn, a flash, a squeal, a crash.

* * *

William was asleep, and he was dreaming.. He knew that much at least. He had experienced this dream several times before, every night since his return.

He was in the dark and he was cold. He sat rolled up in the fetal position, and a wave of warmth passed over him. It wasn't a pleasant warmth by any means. He knew far to well what it meant. He was being copied onto Lyoko by XANA. He could feel himself being drained of power, he was using Super Smoke again. His arms felt tired, he must be fighting now, he wondered against who. He could feel a stinging in his right shoulder, he'd been hit by an arrow, he must be fighting Odd. He could feel a shock in his biceps, he'd connected with him and probably devirtualized him. He felt a pain in his leg, Yumi had pegged him with one of her fans. He could feel Super Smoke around him, as he made a hasty escape. He could feel XANA devirtualize him. He could feel XANA's displeasure with him, and the cold returned. He was alone with just XANA's disappointed gaze upon him.

He knew he was dreaming, he had to be, he couldn't be back in XANA's control. He had to wake up. He knew he had to.

He was startled awake by a noise outside.

A horn, a flash, a squeal, a crash.

* * *

Aelita poked her head out her door, only to see that she wasn't the only one. All around her the other girls of Kadic Academy had come into the hall to see what was happening. She grabbed her jacket and ran down the hall towards the exit. The horn outside was still sounding.

She ran down the hall with a mass of other students, all heading to check the commotion. By the time they had reached to exit there were sirens sounding loudly, just off in the distance.

The throng of students was joined by the boys from the other floor and they all pushed their way towards the exit. Once the doors were opened they were accosted by a wall of biting wind and rain.

Aelita pulled the jacket tighter around her as she stepped out into the rain. There was a snap as an umbrella opened over her head. She glanced over and saw that it was Sissi who was holding it. It was massive in size, and she looked like she was having a bit of trouble against the wind, but it was covering them both nicely. "Thanks," Aelita said smiling.

"Don't mention it." Sissi replied. In the past few weeks she had been trying to be nicer to Aelita and her friends, she was really trying to become part of the group. They walked amongst the mass of students in silence, despite the shouting from all around them. The sirens were even louder here, and they could hear Jim shouting. Sissi almost had to shout to be heard, "What do you think is happening?"

"I don't know, I hear ambulances." Aelita replied as the moved towards the sound.

The crowd slowed to a stop and people began pushing their way further forward. There was a sharp whistle and the crowd fell silent as Jim stepped up and waved his arms to get everyone attention.

"Alright, listen up, I want everyone back in their rooms, pronto. Get it moving!" He motioned for everyone to start backing up, but the wall of students kept pushing forward. The ambulances sped away at that moment and the assembly began to disperse. Mr. Delmas stepped up and whispered something in Jim's ear that made the large man go white as a sheet. He whispered something back to his boss and the man nodded. Jim walked into the now departing mass of students until he found Aelita, "Ms. Stones, would you please come with me." He way more polite than she had ever heard him, and he was whispering. He sounded really far away as he turned into the crowd, looking for something.

"What's going on Jim?" Aelita asked, walking slowly behind him.

"I'd rather not talk about it…" He trailed off as spotted what he was looking for and took off at a run. "Stern, Della Robbia, come here."

Odd and Ulrich, both still dressed in their night clothes, came running over to Jim. They slowed down when the spotted Aelita following behind him. Ulrich walked over to them. "What's going on Jim?" Odd shook his head and looked off to the ground.

"Mr. Delmas will explain when we get to his office, come on." He turned and began walking away. If Ulrich hadn't known any better he'd have sworn that Jim was crying.

* * *

They arrived at Mr. Delmas's office and entered quietly. The old man sat behind his desk with his hands steepled together. He motioned for the group to sit, and then stood. "Children, I have called you here because of" He paused briefly to gather his thoughts, "regrettable events that have occurred this morning." He walked over to look out his window, where he could still see students filing into their dorms. "There was an accident, and Mr. Belpois has been taken to the hospital."

The Lyoko Warriors were taken aback. "Then why are we here, we should get over there for when he wakes up." Ulrich said, stepping forward.

"I'm sorry Mr. Stern, but that isn't an option. He will be in surgery for quite some time and your presence would not impact that in any way. You are all to return to bed. I only informed you about this out of courtesy and I assumed that you would want to know." He turned and sat in his desk. "You may go. Jim, make sure there get where they need to go."

The group filed out into the hallway and Ulrich shook his head. "I can't believe that, Jim, we need to get to the hospital you've gotta let us go."

Jim walked on in silence and then stopped to look back. "Well come on, we need to stop by your rooms first, you don't want to go see Jeremie in your pjs do ya?"

Odd looked up in shocked surprise. "Jim, did you just say what I think you just said?"

"Say what you want about ol' Jimbo, but he never leaves a solider behind, now hurry before Delmas sees us."

* * *

They climbed into Jim's car and were on there way to the hospital. They sat largely in silence as they traveled, save for a short phone call to Yumi, informing her what was happening.

They stopped by her home to pick her up and she joined the rest of the gang in the car. They continued in silence for a while, when Jim finally broke the silence. "I'm sure he's fine. He's a tough kid, and he's got guts, he'll pull through. He reminds me of when I used to drive an ambulance."

Ulrich looked up at him and shook his head. "I'd rather you not talk about it right now, if that's okay."

Jim simply nodded and continued driving.

* * *

They arrived at the hospital a few minutes later and quickly walked inside. The night nurse looked up and shot the group an odd look. "May I help you?" She asked, setting her book down.

"Uh yeah, we're here to see the boy that was just brought in, Belpois comma Jeremie." Jim walked up to the desk and signed everyone in.

"He's still in surgery, but you can wait in waiting room 4, just down the hall." She pointed off into the distance and then went back to reading.

The group walked on in silence and found the waiting room quickly. They each took up seats around the room, with Jim standing, leaning against the wall next to the door. He watched over the group for a moment and then stood and moved to exit. "I'll go get you kids some hot chocolate. Stay here and shout if you need anything."

Left alone they remained quite for a moment. Ulrich broke the silence, "So, should we go to the factory? Could we maybe return to the past?"

Aelita shook her head. When she spoke her voice was hallow and quite, it sounded as if she was about to break down at any moment. "N-no. The supercomputer is turned off, it can't return to the past if it doesn't have any memory." She put her head in her hands and looked down at the floor.

Yumi put her arm around Aelita, "He'll be fine, I'm sure of it."

Jim returned just after that and began passing out cups of a strange brownish substance that clearly was trying to be hot chocolate. They all held the cups and looked down into them, but no one drank. "You kids are really brave." Jim said, swirling his drink absently, "You never seem phased by anything. Even when your running around and cutting classes, you never seem to stop." He took a drink, and then winced. "You kids have always impressed me, I think that's why I'm so hard on you all the time. You guys are really lucky to have found such a tightly knit group of friends. It actually reminds me of when I was a kid…" He trailed off and took another drink.

"Lemmie guess, you'd rather not talk about it?" Yumi said, trying her drink and spitting it out again.

"I don't think it'd be appropriate here and now." He replied. "I just thought you needed to hear that stuff, and it's all true."

Odd, who had been bizarrely silent this entire time crush his cup in his hands and leapt to his feet. He spoke in a far away voice, and had a totally listless look upon his face. "We need to go to the factory." Each word was drawn out and deliberate. "We need to launch a return to the past, or Jeremie will die." He put a hand to his head as he sat down and shook himself. "Did I just say what I think I thought I saw me say?"

Everyone around the room was silent for a moment. Aelita spoke first, "Odd, what was that?" She cut into a low whisper, "Especially with Jim around."

"This is gunna sound weird, but it felt like a future flash." Odd replied, "I saw us go to the factory and return to the past."

"I thought you lost future flash on Lyoko, why would it work here?" Yumi whispered sharply.

Odd shrugged, "I don't know but, it can't hurt to try, right?"

Ulrich crossed his arms and leaned forward. "I agree, but I'll stay here in case there's any news on Einstein. You guys get to the factory."

Jim walked over, "What are you all whispering about? What factory? What's going on?"

Aelita took in a shuddering breath. "Jim, we need a ride somewhere, right now."

* * *

Jim pulled right up to the edge of the factory's upper deck and parked. "So what you're saying is that you can go back in time?"

Aelita leapt onto one of the ropes and swung down to the floor. She shouted up from the floor. "Maybe, but we need to see if the supercomputer is working." The rest of the warriors leapt to the ground, followed by Jim. The quickly ran to the elevator and descended at it's leisurely pace.

They arrived in the control room, and to their total surprise everything seemed to be running. The massive holo map in the center spun slowly and the air was filled with the gentle humming of thousands of processors working to run the mammoth machine. Aelita quickly sprinted towards the chair and sat down at the controls. She typed furiously and gasped. "The supercomputer, its been on for almost six hours. There's just enough logged information to run a return program." She continued typing as she spoke. "It's warming up, it'll take a few seconds." The warriors were silent, none of them daring to make even the slightest sound. Odd's phone rang, and they all knew it was Ulrich. The control panel set off a series of alarms and she slammed down on the keyboard.

"Return to the past, now!"


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Another Side, Another Story:

Impact

William was asleep again, he knew it. He didn't know how he had gone from sitting up and reading, he was far to shaken up by the accident to sleep, to the depths of his dreams. He was once more in the dark and the horrid warmth of being summoned onto Lyoko under XANA's control. He could feel his body straining as he clashed with one of the warriors, Ulrich by his best guess. His shoulders strained as he swung wide to try and bring down his quarry. He could feel the stinging of Odd's laser arrows burying into his calves. He could feel the heat arching through his arms as he deflected one of Aelita's energy fields with his massive sword.

He could feel a jarring in his arms as he swung and struck down one of the warriors. He could feel a rush as he used super smoke to relocate and strike. He could feel an attack deflect off of his shoulder, whose it was he didn't know. His back wrenched as he spun wildly and he could feel the attack connect. He had defeated another warrior. He felt a sick sense of satisfaction as he stood tall. He adjusted his stance and he could feel his hands tensing as they reached out to grasp someone. He could only guess Aelita. He felt himself lift her, he felt her blows against him as she struggled, he could almost hear her screaming as he walked to toss her over the edge of the world.

Then he felt a weightlessness. He was falling, and the sense of satisfaction left him. He knew now that it was XANA's satisfaction, not his own, and it was being replaced with rage. He was falling faster now, and then he struck the sea. He could feel every inch of his body searing as the sea rent him apart and the reassembled him. XANA didn't remove him from Lyoko for a long and agonizing minute. He knew XANA's wrath was unmatched. He screamed in silence until his master relented, and he was once again alone, in the cold and dark.

At least he knew it was only a dream, the ghost of a long forgotten memory.

* * *

Aelita forced herself awake, rolling onto the floor of her room. She had reverted time as far as the supercomputer would allow, which sadly put her into the depths of slumber. She staggered, her body still mostly asleep, and slowly rose to her feet. She stumbled forwards and crashed into her closet and grabbed a dress off the rack. She dressed quickly and rubbed her eyes.

She quickly exited the room and moved as quietly as her still mostly asleep body would allow. She stumbled and fell to her knees for a moment. She rose to her feet and continued her trek.

She reached her destination after only a few moments, she knew the route by heart. She stood before his door and raised her hand to knock and then paused. She lowered her hand and took a deep breath. She didn't know what lay behind the door, or if she wanted to. In her mind he was okay. In her mind the return trip had worked without a hitch and he would be sitting behind his desk working on some project that had totally absorbed him. She took another breath, trying in vain to psych herself up enough to knock.

A sharp whisper came snapped her to attention. "Princess." She turned to look and saw Ulrich and Odd walking towards her. "What's going on?"

She shook her head. "I haven't knocked yet. I'm too nervous." She blushed slightly and took a step back.

Odd walked over and knocked lightly once. Then a second time. He then began banging on it with both hands. The door swung open a moment later, to see Jeremie scowling. Her turned around and motioned for them to come in.

They entered and he sat in his desk chair and spun to face them, still scowling. "You used the return program."

They were stunned into silence for a moment. Odd spoke first. "But, you were in the hospital. You were in an accident."

"There wasn't a XANA attack, was there?" Jeremie said, leaning forward. "We can't use the return program for personal gain. That was rule one!" He stood and began pacing.

Ulrich shook his head in disbelief. "You could have died Einstein, we needed to do it."

"Then where do we draw the line?" Jeremie said, continuing to pace, "What if there's a fire? Or if Jim falls off the roof while doing repairs, do we use it then?" He sat down and leaned forward, resting his face in his hands. "The rule was that we would only use it when XANA attacked, and even then, only when we needed it."

Aelita stood and walked towards him. "But Jeremie…"

He stood and started shouting. "But nothing. We had a set of rules, and you broke them. I'm going to go shut down the supercomputer, again, and see if I can make sure it stays that way." He stood and stormed out, despite the assembled group's protests.

The door slammed shut and for a long time they were silent. "Well," Odd said sheepishly, "that didn't go the way I thought it would. I was kinda expecting a tear filled admission of some sort."

Ulrich shot him a dark look. "We should go after him, he's upset and not thinking clearly." Aelita stood, totally stunned, for a few moments and then collapsed down onto Jeremie's bed. Ulrich stood. "I'll go after him," He leaned next to Odd for a moment and whispered, "keep an eye on princess for me." Odd nodded and Ulrich made his way out into the hall.

* * *

Ulrich ran as quickly as he could, trying to catch up with Jeremie. How the computer genius had not only gotten ahead of him, but was managing to stay ahead of him, Ulrich would never know, but he did.

He continued his run and arrived at the sewer entrance and descended. Jeremie's scooter was missing, they had elected to leave their transports there, though none of them spoke as to why.

Ulrich leapt onto his skateboard and sped off into the depths of the sewer. He continued his trek grunting along the way. "I forgot how badly it smelled down here, it's been too long." He rolled rapidly and leapt across a gap, and then skidded to a stop. He could hear Jeremie's scooter in the distance and then sped off after him.

* * *

He arrived at the sewer's exit and spotted Jeremie's scooter resting at the base of the ladder. He climbed the ladder, taking a calming breath half way up, and exited the sewer. The lid was left to the side, Jeremie must have known he was being followed. Ulrich took a running leap and grabbed the rope that was waiting for him. He swung down hard and rolled to a stop, groaning as he stood. He ran to the elevator and punched in the control code. A loud clunk informed him it was in motion, and another informed him it had stopped.

There was a hissing noise as he stepped into the control room and saw Jeremie typing furiously, and then he slammed his hands onto the keys and ran his fingers through his hair in frustration.

Ulrich walked over to him and attempted in vain to get his attention. "Hey, Jeremie, what you did back there was really rude man." He looked over Jeremie's shoulder, "Hey, I'm talking to you…" He trailed off as he watched the screen flash and shift as Jeremie worked his magic.

He shouted wordlessly as a large red exclamation mark blinked on the screen. He pulled his glasses off and rubbed them, and when he replaced them he finally spoke. "I just don't understand it." He rotated the chair, stood and began pacing around the room. "When I got here I went down to the computer level, but the panel that houses the main shutoff was welded shut. More than that even, it was like it was totally flush, like it was a solid slab of metal. On top of that I couldn't pull the blasted power cell out, it was even there." He continued pacing. "It is running on something, but I can't find it. And when I came up here I found the shutdown codes I installed no longer function. And now the lockdown programs aren't working, you were able to just take the elevator down here. And the super scan is on the blink. It keeps detecting activated towers in the ice sector, but it's not locating them." He paused for a moment and shock passed over his face. "And I yelled at Aelita." He collapsed back into his chair and held his head in his hands.

Ulrich watched him for a moment. "Wait, you said something about activated towers?" Jeremie didn't answer, and the console continued to beep loudly. "Hey, listen to me. What did you say about towers?"

Jeremie looked up, "The super scan," He turned to the console and clicked a few keys, "it keeps saying that there's an activated tower in the ice sector." He tapped a few keys and the super scan popped up. It flashed several times, showing a tower activated, however before the scan could pinpoint its exact location it flicked off, and another tower activated. "It keeps flitting between the towers in the sector."

Ulrich nodded sharply, "Alright then, send me to Lyoko."

"What?"

"Yeah, send me to Lyoko, while I'm there I can follow the pulsations to the activated tower."

"I guess that could work, but are you sure? Its been a long time. We should call the rest of the gang if we're going to do this?"

"If there's an activated tower we may not have enough time, you call everyone else, I'll go check it out."

Jeremie shook his head. "But, what I don't understand is that XANA is dead. Aelita's father stopped him." He ran his fingers though his hair again. "This just doesn't make sense." The console abruptly stopped beeping and Jeremie swung his chair around. "The super scan, it stopped. There's no more activated tower. I just don't understand it. Something is wrong."

Ulrich crossed his arms, "Well then, send me and I'll look around."

"It's to risky. The system is way too buggy." He tapped a few keys and the consul went dark. "I'll try to reset it again, but we'll look into it more tomorrow."

Ulrich just shrugged, "Alright Einstein, we'll fix one problem at a time. Come on, you need to go apologize to Princess."

Jeremie blushed slightly. "Yeah, you're right," a sudden realization dawned on him, "but I need to make a stop first."

* * *

A series of sparks signaled the sealing of the elevator door as the children made their assent. The consul, left dorment for a moment by Jeremie's meddling, blinked to life. A stream of code danced across its surface, and a small window opened.

Execute command: Lyoko Keys.

Error 12054203: Insufficient power. Cannot comply.

Execute command: Spawn Polymorphic Specter.

Error 12054203: Insufficient power. Cannot comply.

Execute command: Power Transference: Reserve to Main.

Error 1005314: Reserve Empty.

Execute command: Lyoko Tower Activation Protocol

Tower Activated

Execute command: Lyoko Tower Activation: Subroutine: Spawn Polymorphic Specter.

Error 12054203: Insufficient power. Cannot comply.

Execute command: Lyoko Tower Activation: Subroutine: Homo-Saipan Mental Override.

Error 12054203: Insufficient power. Cannot comply.

Execute command: Lyoko Tower Activation: Subroutine: Weather Manipulation

Tower Subroutine Engaged.

Access Dossier: Kadic Academy Students.

A series of folders flashed across the screen, filting rapidly between students, until finally coming to rest upon a chosen profile.

Target Aquired: Kadic Academy Student: Ameila Solovieff.

A surge of power, a crack of thunder and then silence fell throughout the facility. Slowly the lights dimmed, needing to conserve as much power as possible. Eventually the only light remaining was a simple red glow from the consol, eminating from a strange red symbol that would fill the children with dread.

The Eye of XANA burned into the darkness all around it.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The Oncoming Storm

Aelita lay in bed, but she was far from asleep. She was staring up at the ceiling, trying to keep herself from crying. She rolled over and looked across the room, to her desk. On it were mostly pictures, her and the gang, her at some tourist trap, her DJing at a concert, and then a final picture that was turned face down. She knew exactly what was in that small brown frame, but she couldn't bring herself to look at it. Even the thought of it hurt her and brought her to the edge of tears. She rolled over onto her stomach and spotted her spare pillow, stripped of its case and tossed angrily to the floor, and that to made her sad.

She stood and walked over to her computer, which once again reminded her of what the picture contained. Everything in the room reminded her of the photo. Mostly because everything she owned was purchased by the person in the picture. She grunted in frustration and smacked the picture and it clattered to the floor. She turned her computer on and loaded her latest mix. She donned her headset and began to nod to the music, occasionally making a small adjustment to it until the hour overtook her and she passed into a fitful sleep.

* * *

She awoke several hours later, but still far earlier than she would have liked. Deciding that she would be unable to sleep any longer she grabbed her bag of bath supplies and headed snuck slowly out into the hall. She quickly moved into the bathroom and entered the showers.

The smell of steam and sounds of rushing water alerted her to another person's presence, but she ignored it and began her own morning ritual. A few moments later she emerged from her hot shower and dressed quickly. She crossed over to the sinks and began to brush her teeth.

She was brought out of her fog by a voice from beside her. "What are you doing up so early Aelita?" When she turned her head she was took a step back for a moment in shock. Standing before her was Sissi Delmas, who was currently either applying or removing some sort of facial cream. "You normally sleep in on Sundays, are you okay? You look like you've not slept in a week." There was a genuine concern in her voice.

She spit into the sink, "Good morning Sissi. I haven't been sleeping well…" She paused, thinking of a good excuse. "I've been having nightmares again."

Sissi finished fussing with her face and then began combing her hair. "Well if you're having nightmares you might want to try and get your sleep patterns in order. You and Jeremie stay up into all hours of the night doing who-knows-what?"

Aelita bristled slightly at the mention of him, but ignored it. "Yeah, you're probably right. What are you doing up so early?"

Sissi smiled, noticing the rapid change of subject. "I'm up around this time every day. It takes work to look this good." She laughed a little, "Not everyone can look as good as you do with no help." She finished combing her hair and then began to floss her teeth. "So, what are planning to do with your Sunday?"

Aelita paused in contemplation, "I'm not sure, doing homework most likely." She laughed awkwardly, still not used to "nice" Sissi. "You?"

Sissi shrugged and went back to her flossing. After a long pause she stopped. "So, that nightmare…" Her expression darkened slightly and she took on a vastly more serious tone. "It was about a car accident, wasn't it?"

* * *

Yumi arrived at the cafeteria in time for breakfast. She wasn't eating of course, nor did she have any classes that day, but she wanted to be at the academy today. She walked inside and spotted Ulrich and Odd sitting together, and so she walked over to join them. "Morning guys." She sat down and leaned forward, whispering "I haven't slept, at all. Were we in time?"

Ulrich nodded, "Yeah, we made it."

Yumi let out a heavy sigh. "That's a load off my mind. So where is he? Aelita and he off celebrating or something?"

Odd shook his head. "The Einsteins are fighting. Jeremie exploded after the return trip."

Ulrich took a drink of his hot chocolate and continued for Odd. "He went to the factory and there was something with the computer and then he ran off saying he had to do something, by the time I got back Aelita had gone to bed."

"So, where are they this morning?"

"Jeremie is probably still working on whatever he went off to do. As for Princess, she and Sissi were here earlier talking, but left when we walked in."

"Wait, Sissi and Aelita?" Yumi asked, surprised. Ulrich just shrugged. "Well, weirder things have happened. So what are we doing today?"

Odd finished inhaling what was left of his breakfast and downed his hot chocolate. "I say we head to the factory, that's probably where we'll find him."

Yumi nodded and then shivered. "Is it just me, or is it colder today than it should be? And what happened to the rain, it was raining last night, well, the first time around?"

Ulrich leaned back in his chair, "Yeah, I'd noticed that too. There was no rain after the return trip, and now it looks like the clouds are moving back in."

Odd stood up. "Factory is looking better and better."

"Mail call." Jim walked into the cafeteria, and the door hung open long enough for a chilled wet wind to enter. "Della Robbia, package for you." Jim said as he walked by. "Oh, and this is for Stones, I've not seen her anywhere all morning." He passed him a set of boxes and then moved on to more students.

Odd turned the packages over, there was a small one for him and a half dozen for Aelita. "Who sends her mail? It's postmarked from all over the world!"

"The last time she got something it was Jeremie, come on, we'll leave the packages in her room for her and then head to find Jeremie." Yumi said as they all walked out.

A biting wind picked up as they made their way across campus and clouds began to cover thicker overhead. By the time the had reached the dorms chilled rain was falling in sheets.

* * *

Jeremie sat bolt up in bed. His alarm was blaring and he turned to slap it. He was late. Breakfast was halfway over and mail call would have already happened. He leapt to his feet and grabbed his clothes and dressed himself in a flash. He exited his room and began running down the hall. He could hear the sounds of rain pelting the windows as he rounded down the staircase.

He crashed headlong into Yumi and the rest of the gang, sending the packages spiraling to the ground. He leapt up and began to pick up everything. "Why do you guys have these?" He asked. "And where's Aelita?"

Odd stood up and helped him pick up the spilled mail. "Yeah, we're fine, thanks. We're trying to find her actually, she left before mail call."

Yumi helped Ulrich up and then turned to Jeremie. "We're headed to her room now to drop them off."

"I'll go with you guys, I need to speak with her anyway."

Yumi laughed slightly, "Yeah, after she finishes her talk with Sissi."

"What?"

* * *

Aelita sat on her bed and watched as Sissi played idly with her hair while she collected her thoughts. "So, you've been having these dreams for a few months now, what makes this one different?"

Sissi sighed, "I don't know, it seemed much more…real to me. The giant teddy-bear one seemed so silly I discounted it. But this one, the car crash, I could almost feel the rain on my face." She raised a hand and touched her cheek. "And I can remember it so vividly. It's so clear in my mind, it's like it really happened."

Aelita was shocked, and shook her head. "This shouldn't be possible…" she muttered under her breath, "What else do you remember? Anything else like that?"

Sissi seemed to be straining to think. She looked down and closed her eyes. "I remember, something about the old factory, and something about Jeremie's computer." She rubbed the sides of her head, "It's there, I can almost see it, but when I think about my head starts to hurt." She looked up, "Don't make a joke about that."

They shared a laugh, an honest genuine laugh. A clap of thunder drew their attention to the window. Rain had been pelting it harder and harder since they had come to Aelita's dorm. There was a flash of lightning and then another clap of thunder, almost at the same time. Aelita winced at the sound. The lights flickered and the room shook as the thunder boomed again.

Another flash and a roar of thunder, and the window shattered inwards. A wall of fire erupted from the ground where the lightning had struck, only to be doused by the rain. Sirens filled the air, echoed by screams as the students fled for safety.

Aelita's hair stood on end and she sniffed the air. A whiff of ozone assaulted her nose. "Get down!" She shouted as she dove to the ground, taking Sissi with her. A fizz-crack followed by roar confirmed her theory, lightning had struck once more. She could feel the heat of the strike on her face and everything in her room was scattered by the wall of air.

She felt someone grab her arm and drag her from the room. She looked up and saw Jim standing over her.

"Stones, you should know better than to stay near a window in…" He was caught off by a roar of thunder, so loud that it shook the building. "Reminds me of …" Another crash. "…I'd rather not talk about it."

Jeremie and the rest of the gang sprinted up the hall, tossing the assembled packages aside in the chaos. "Aelita, are you alright?" He knelt beside her as another crash shook the building. The ceiling cracked slightly and dust fell on them.

Jim started shouting over the storm. "Everyone, take cover, kneel and face the wall. Head count, is everyone here?"

A scream drew his attention. "Milly! Milly isn't here." It was Tamyia. She was in tears, and was clearly out of breath. "She and I were running inside from the storm, we…we got split up. I think she went to hide under a tree or something."

Another flash, and another clap of thunder was followed by a scream. "Somebody help me!" It was Milly, that much was obvious, and she had to be fairly nearby. Children stood and flocked towards the doors, despite Jim's protests, but Odd lagged behind.

"Guys," he whispered and the group gathered around. "Maybe we should head to the factory. I know this sounds weird, but this has XANA written all over it."

"He's right, but I don't know how that's possible." Jeremie ran his fingers through his hair. "I just don't understand how this could be possible. My scan hasn't shown anything and I don't know how XANA would've survived the multi-agent program."

Aelita hung her head. "Alright, lets just get going." She turned and started heading down the hallway. "We should hurry."

Ulrich turned the other way. "I'll stay here, might need someone on the scene."

"Good idea, we'll be back as fast as we can." Jeremie called as he took off running, followed by Odd and Yumi.

Ulrich turned and ran towards he group of people gathering at the door. Jim was holding them back best as he could, but the weight of the student body was too much for him and they spilled out into the vestibule. When Ulrich finally reached the front of the pack he could see a grizzly site. Milly was hiding under a lone tree that swayed back and forth and rain whipped around her. There was a flash of lightning and she screamed again, and curled up into a ball.

She was no more than 30 meters from the building, but the strikes were so consistent that an attempt to reach her seemed impossible. There was another flash and a sizzling noise filled the air. "The lightning is so hot that it instantly evaporates the water on the ground. The air is boiling." Ulrich turned to his side and spotted William standing beside him. "You're thinking of doing something stupid, like running out there and getting her. I've seen that look on your face before."

"If I don't, who will?" There was another flash, just out of his sight arc, he could feel the heat as boiling water splashed the wall beside him. "You've seen what can happen if we don't fight this at every turn."

"You thinking this is…you know?"

"It's gotta be, lightning never strike the same place twice." He scanned the area as another flash went off. He started counting. Six seconds passed, another flash of lighting and crash of thunder. He was buffeted by a searing wall of air. He started counting again, and once more at six seconds there was a flash.

"You noticing the pattern too?" Willaim whispered. "You'd never make it. Even if you are able to avoid the lightning there's still the boiling air, and all the water pools are probably charged by now. You'd probably have to carry her back here too, she's probably in shock."

"Are you saying I shouldn't go help her?"

"No," He smirked, "I'm saying it's going to be tricky."

Ulrich set his jaw and took a deep breath. "I'm going to try." He stepped forward and cupped his hands beside his mouth. "Milly! Stay there. We're coming to get you!"

"Stern, you are staying right here." Jim shouted, grabbing Ulrich's shoulder.

"Jim, you've gotta let me go. I can help her, she might die if I don't." There was a flash.

"I'll go get her." Jim said. "Stay where it's safe." He took a step outside and jumped back as there was another strike. When he returned inside his hair stood straight up. "That's not happening kids. You need to stay here and wait for help."

Tamyia poke her head out the door and shouted into the storm. "Milly, they aren't coming, you gotta come here." Jim grabbed her and pulled her inside, but it was too late.

Milly stood and started sprinting towards them. There was a flash right near her that burned forced Ulrich and William to look away. Milly screamed and stumbled back to her hiding place. Even at this distance they could see her skin turning red from the scalding air.

Ulrich's eyes burned as he blinked his vision back. "We need to get her, now." He looked to William. "I need you to hold Jim back."

William turned to Jim and punched him as hard as he could in the gut and tackled him clear of the door. Six: Ulrich took a deep breath and centered himself. Five: He knelt. Four: He could feel rain spatter his face. Three: The wind roared. Two: There was a cracking noise as the building shifted. One: He closed his eyes and hoped with all his might this didn't kill him. There was a flash and he took off running with all his might.

He juked to the side as a wall of water was flung at him from the strike site. He covered his face in time, but his arm screamed in protest. He grit his teeth and kept running. He jumped a puddle of water and could feel his hair stand on end. He dove and rolled forward and skidded to a stop just under the tree, just in time for another flash of lightning to appear behind him.

He stood and ran over to where Milly was lying in a ball, sobbing to herself. "Milly, I'm here." He rolled her over and gasped. She was burned badly, and when she looked up at him her eyes were vacant.

"Ulrich, is that you? I can't see anything."

* * *

Odd emerged from the sewers last as they arrived at the factory. "This has gotta be XANA, it's not even raining here." He turned and looked off into the distance. "It's not even raining anywhere I can see except the school." He ran ahead of the group and leapt out onto the ropes and swung down. The grunting behind informed him that the others had followed.

The elevator descended quickly and they spilled out into the control room. Jeremie shouldered past them as the lights flickered on and he dropped into the chair. His fingers danced across the keys as the holomap opened in the center of the room and spun wildly.

He shouted wordlessly and slammed his fists onto it. "There's no activated tower. None. I'm not even getting a disturbance on the scan." He began running another set of programs. "Head down to the scanners. I'll vitalize you and you can look on Lyoko."

He waited a few seconds and then began running the scanner programs. "I never thought I'd be saying this again, but here it goes. Transfer Yumi. Transfer Odd. Transfer Aelita. Scanner Yumi. Scanner Odd. Scanner Aelita. Virtualization." He put his headset on and entered the codes for the ice sector.

* * *

Aelita hated being sent to Lyoko. After her time imprisoned there she couldn't stand it. She couldn't stand the feeling of isolation she felt. She couldn't feel the cool night air. She couldn't smell the stench of metal from the factory. She simply…was.

She landed on her feet in the ice sector. She closed her eyes, trying to feel for pulsations. When she opened them she gasped. "Jeremie, I'm sensing something from all of the towers. It doesn't feel like normal pulsations. It's much fainter."

Jeremie's voice echoed in the backs of their heads. "Then you should head out, your vehicles should be appearing now."

The overvehicles loaded in and they climbed aboard them. The warriors took off towards the first tower.

* * *

They arrived shortly thereafter and Aelita entered. The tower's aura was the faint blue hue it always had when not active. While inside it however she felt the odd sick feeling she always did when in a XANA controlled tower. She floated to the upper platform and placed a hand on it. It blinked several times and her named danced across the screen. There was a soft whirring sound, as if the tower deactivated. "Jeremie, was there any change?"

"I'm not seeing anything on my end."

"I guess we should head to the next tower and see."

* * *

Ulrich had been sitting under the tree with Milly, waiting for her vision to return. It didn't seem to be coming back at all. He was dully aware of the amount of time that had passed. It was more than enough for Odd and the others to get to the factory, and more than enough time for them to stop this if it was a XANA attack.

The lightning continued to strike all around him. The air was humming from the charge. He was burned in several places where he had shielded Milly from boiling water, or scalding wind. "Milly," he whispered, "we need to go. We're not safe here." He looked over to her. "I know you still can't see, but it's not safe here." The lightning flashed again.

"Okay Ulrich. I trust you." She swayed to her feet, only to have him hoist her onto his shoulder.

He took another calming breath and waited for the next flash. It didn't strike near them, but rather on top of them. The tree that was until now sheltering them from the storm was set ablaze in an instant.

Ulrich closed his eyes and took off as fast as he could. When he opened them everything seemed to have slowed down. He could see the drops of rain falling around him, he watched as they parted from the wave of air smashing into them. He spun backwards, away from the rushing air and continued around it.

He could feel his hair standing on end again and tossed Milly as far forward as he could and stopped. He had just enough time to see her fall into Jim's waiting arms before his body spasmed and everything went dark.

* * *

Jeremie was brought away from his calculations by the sound of his phone ringing. He tapped a few keys and brought up the phone console. He noticed it was William. "William, what's going…"

He was cut off. "Jeremie, you need to use the return trip. Ulrich's just been hit."

"But we haven't found any sign of XANA on Lyoko. I know this is crazy, but…"

"But nothing!" William shouted. "Do it or he'll die!"

Jeremie looked down at the keys and after a moment's hesitation he put his hands to them in a flurry of typing. "Return to the past, now!"

A wave of white light enveloped him as he depressed the final key and he closed his eyes.


End file.
